Geospatial Assessment of Agricultural Land use Change in Fatehpur Tehsil, Barabanki District (2005–2025)

Abstract

Today, the land we use to grow crops is undergoing rapid, visually observable changes in its use. The population grows year by year, urban boundaries keep expanding outward, the construction of infrastructure like highways and water plants also takes up a large amount of land, and furthermore, the way people use land is drastically different from before. The confluence of these multiple forces is constantly driving changes in the state of cultivated land. Currently, there is a study that aims to clarify the spatiotemporal pattern of changes in local agricultural land in Fatehpur Tehsil of Barabanki District, Uttar Pradesh, India, over the 25-year period from 2005 to 2025. To sort out these changes, the study employs two types of technology: one is remote sensing technology, and the other is Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. Multi-temporal satellite images including Landsat 5 TM (2005 and 2010), Landsat 8 OLI (2015 and 2020) and Landsat 9 OLI (2025) were used to prepare land use/land cover (LULC) maps of the study area. The satellite imagery was pre-processed, clipped using the Fatehpur Tehsil boundary, analyzed using false colour composites and NDVI. Supervised classification was performed to classify the main land use/land cover classes such as agricultural land, built-up, vegetation/tree, water bodies and barren/fallow land use/land cover classes. Classification accuracy was evaluated using a confusion matrix and standard accuracy assessment metrics. The classified LULC maps were compared to indicate changes in the areal extent of agricultural land use and major land use/land cover classes. The current study aims at analyzing agricultural land use changes in Fatehpur Tehsil, Barabanki district using multi-temporal earth observation data. The findings of the current study will contribute to sustainable agricultural land use planning, natural resource management and regional development in Barabanki district.